Local economic leaders believe Schuylkill County workers would be willing and qualified to fill those jobs if Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling eventually finds its way here, as experts believe it will.

"You have a lot of professional jobs, but then you also have planners, pipefitters ... and you have a whole realm of administrative staff. You have welders. It's so vast a pipeline of ancillary jobs. It's the Marcellus Shale multiplier," Darlene Robbins, president of the Northeast PA Manufacturers & Employers Association, said Friday. "If Schuylkill County couldn't produce the expertise, Schuylkill County would recruit the expertise."

Over the next decade, shale drilling will create at least 212,000 new jobs in Pennsylvania alone, according to the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an organization of energy and other companies related to the industry.

While there has been no drilling in Schuylkill County yet, there are two wells in neighboring Luzerne County and one in Columbia County. Last year alone, more than 1,300 wells were drilled statewide.

Experts believe someone will eventually take the financial risk and drill a well in Schuylkill County, which lies on the outer edge of the Marcellus Shale formation. The seeds of such a project may have already been planted.

Rausch Creek Land LP, Valley View, has submitted paperwork to Schuylkill County's real estate/engineering department informing officials the company wants to withdraw up to 100,000 gallons of water each day from an abandoned mine pit in Porter Township. Its purpose is "to supply water for drilling and hydrofracturing of proposed Marcellus Shale natural gas wells which are to be drilled and developed on property owned by Rausch Creek Land," according to documents filed with Schuylkill County and the Susquehanna River Basin Commission.

The company has refused to answer questions from The Republican-Herald or give more details about its plans.

If the proposed water withdrawal leads to shale drilling, Schuylkill County workers are ready for the work, according to Mark Scarbinsky, county administrator and director of economic development.

"I think we have a quality work force here that could have their skills adapted to a drilling process in their community. I know we have talent in the labor force now," he said. "You're talking carpentry skills ... you would also have truck-driving skills. There's a plethora of opportunities."

Robbins said she recently toured a Chesapeake Energy drilling operation in northern Pennsylvania. She cited some of the jobs needed at Marcellus Shale job sites, based on her visit: chemical engineers, civil engineers, designers, drafters, electrical engineers, electricians, administrative staff, marketing and accounting staff, graphic artists and many others.

"I think we actually do have the talent in the county. It may attract those who have commuted out of the county back here again. That would be an awesome thing," she said.

Local gas drilling could help solve a nagging problem in Schuylkill County - about 30 percent of the work force commutes out of the county for their jobs.

"If we could bring those back in to this community, it would be a great benefit to them and to the community," Scarbinsky said.

Many of the jobs, particularly in the engineering sectors, require degrees. Robbins said MAEA and other organizations will adapt to the educational requirements as new industries like Marcellus Shale drilling move in.

Scarbinsky said he believes local institutions, like McCann School of Business and Technology, Lehigh Carbon Community College and others, can prepare young people to work in the natural gas industry.

"I believe we have the components in place to address the educational needs here," he said.

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